OVO Hosts Bristol Girl Geek Dinner

Introduction

OVO TECH

OVO Hosts Bristol Girl Geek Dinner

OVO Hosts Bristol Girl Geek Dinner

Last month we saw our Tech team play host to the June Girl Geek Dinner in our new Temple Back office.

Despite the welcome, yet rare, presence of a hot sunny afternoon, we saw a great number of women, all with a common interest in Tech, meet for talks, pizza and, of course, a glass (or two) of wine!

For those who don’t know, Girl Geek Dinners was started in 2005 by Sarah Lamb, who was fed up with being one of the only females attending technical events. Through the powers of social media, and with a little help from some friends, she hosted the first Girl Geek Dinner in London, which had 35 attendees.

Fast forward 12 years and Girl Geek Dinners are now being held in over 24 countries reaching over 45,000 people, with a mission of breaking those old fashioned stereotypes surrounding women working in tech, and providing a welcoming environment for women to encourage, nurture and support each other on their journey within the world of Tech.

OVO is a company that is always looking to break the status quo, and raising awareness of the lack of diversity in the tech world as it stands is something we are passionate about. As a company we are pretty diverse when it comes to our gender divide, with a workforce of over 1,200 and a 60/40 split between men and women.

However, I’m not going to sit here and say we have it 100% right when it comes to diversity in our Tech department - we recruit a very niche skill set that, gender aside, is difficult to find. But we do feel passionate about bringing more diversity into our teams and supporting women by raising awareness of the difficulties faced when looking for a career in tech or returning to the tech world after a break, which we feel is one step in the right direction.

So, back to the Girl Geek Dinner!

Our Bristol office is the perfect location for networking, talks, and enjoying some food with like-minded individuals. The open plan kitchen area surrounded by plants and break out areas has views over the canal and a hub for relaxing on our sofas whilst listening to the talks ahead.

Our very own Kate Ross-Smith led the way for the evening, with her talk “Slamming the cycle segment without cutting the cakes!”

Kate is one of our talented Software Engineers, but is also a qualified bike mechanic, and her talk explored the stereotypes behind women's bike builds and how manufacturers create women specific bikes based on statistics of the ‘average’ woman.

As we know, there is no such thing as an average woman. We are all built differently, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to the shape of women's bodies, or indeed women’s bikes. Kate explained the history of women’s bike builds, the different types of bikes available to women now, as well as showing us what our posture should look like whilst riding a bike, with an interactive and fun session.

She also gave advice on how to build the perfect bike for yourself, including fab tips from changing the length of your handlebars, the amount of spokes you should have, to different types of seats, stems and brakes. Kate combined facts with humour, really engaging the crowd and presenting a fun yet informative talk that was relatable to all.

The talk was extremely relevant for a Girl Geek Dinner based at OVO in Bristol. Not only is Bristol renowned for its bike culture but OVO was recently proud sponsor of The Women’s Tour, the UK’s leading women’s cycling race.

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Watch this space for more about diversity in Tech events hosted by OVO in our Bristol and London offices.